Jesus with the Seven

Lesson #334

When we finished the previous lesson, one might have thought we were at the end of the Gospel of John because the last two verses stated the purpose of the book; that the reader may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have life in his name. But we have one more chapter to go and some unfinished business to attend to. Peter denied Jesus even after promising he would die first and Jesus wants to help Peter recover that denial and by doing so he gives an example for those who face death today for their faith and deny Jesus and need help recovering from their shame.

“After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way” (John 21:1 ESV). After Jesus had appeared several times to the woman, and to the disciples, and at the tomb, he told them to go into Galilee and he would meet them there. This promise is fulfilled here and what he does will be explained in the following verses. Galilee was a place where they could meet away from people in a safe and quiet setting where Jesus could give them his last instructions.

“Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together” (John 21:2 ESV). These were together in one place waiting for another appearance of Jesus. Those present were Simon Peter, who had denied the Lord, but stayed with the disciples. There was Thomas, who for a while did not believe; he had to see before he would believe and Jesus honored that request. There was Nathanael of Cana in Galilee and the sons of Zebedee, who were James and John the writer of this gospel. There were two others, who were thought to be Andrew and Philip. That makes seven with the other four missing. Those four would be James the brother of Jesus, Judas called Lebbaeus and surnamed Thaddaeus, Simon the Canaanite, or zealot, and Matthew the publican.

“Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing” (John 21:3 ESV). Before the death of Jesus, when the disciples were traveling with him, they were supported by the kindness of the people, but now there was need for them to support themselves. Simon Peter, a former fisherman, announced that he was going fishing and was joined by the others. They spent all night out on the water, but caught nothing. Luke records that happening once before: “And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking” (Luke 5:4 – 6 ESV). In the Luke account there was a large crowd to which Jesus was teaching. Here, the disciples and Jesus are alone, but Jesus is going to do something to remind them of something that happened before at the start of his ministry.

Prayer

Father, chapter 21 seems so out of place; kind of like a P.S. at the end of a letter. It looks like John finished up at the end of chapter 20 and then realized later that he had left out a few important details and so he adds them here after his closing, which became chapter 21. Father, there have been times when I thought I was finished with a lesson, only to come back to it and either modify it or add to it. That is how life is: “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps” (Proverbs 16:9 ESV). Here lies the problem; our will verses God’s will. Father, help us bring the two together.